Mutek booms as the electronica revolution pops

MONTREAL - Call it the Skrillex effect. Electronic music’s resurgence as a pop music form in North America and around the globe has trickled down so that even Mutek is feeling the bump. Montreal’s cutting-edge International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music had a record year last year, and for its 13th edition, which runs Wednesday through Sunday, things are looking even better.

“In the past two years, the phenomenon of bass music in North America is pretty important,” said Mutek founder and general and artistic director Alain Mongeau. “Artists like Skrillex contribute to the (popularity of the genre), the commercial side of things that creates a sort of background noise.

“What’s interesting is that a whole audience develops around that. And at a certain point, that audience develops an appetite for other things. I remember when we started Mutek, many people thought it would be a fad. But all the (electronic music) festivals on the circuit have broken records in the last three to four years.”

Bolstered by such big-name headliners as Amon Tobin and Plastikman (a.k.a. Richie Hawtin), last year’s Mutek attendance topped 25,000 over five days. This year’s advance ticket sales are on pace to surpass that number, making Mongeau a happy man. He is particularly proud to note the upswing despite the fact that this year’s lineup doesn’t have the same star power.

“But I think the overall balance (of talent) is higher,” he said. “The program has been super well received.”

As always, Mutek presents a cross-section of new currents in underground electronic music, from minimal house, techno, electro and dubstep to more abstract sounds by artists who are off the radar of most mainstream club music fans. Mongeau curates the lineup with co-programmers Vincent Lemieux and Patti Schmidt.

“We try to create a panorama, as vast as possible, of the different tendances,” Mongeau said, “always with a ratio of 50 per cent Canadian content and 50 per cent international, ranging from the more experimental to the more festive.”

Mutek’s funky Nocturne series expands from Metropolis to include parallel events at the SAT. Notable names include German techno producer Apparat (fronting a live band), British dubstep artist Shackleton, Detroit techno legend Jeff Mills and British club icon A Guy Called Gerald (in his first Mutek appearance).

A/Visions presents experimental audio-visual fare at Monument National’s Ludger-Duvernay Theatre and, on Saturday night, at St. James Church. Among the performers are European mad-scientist conductor duo Biosphere and Lustmord; Ben Shemie (of Montreal rock band Suuns) performing Transmission 1, a piece to be broadcast in two separate parts simultaneously on two radio stations (CIBL and CKUT); and London dubstep artist Kode9, vocalist Ms. Haptic and videographer MFO presenting a reworking of French director Chris Marker’s classic sci-fi film La Jetée.

Mutek is bringing back its Métro Art series, which began last year and features electronic music acts performing at Berri-UQÀM métro station during rush hour.

The festival is branching out in all directions this year, with a number of other special events. The Experience series presents Canadian electronic musicians (including Montreal’s DJ Champion) in the open-air environment of Place de la Paix (the small park just south of the SAT on St. Laurent Blvd.). Place de la Paix is also one of eight stops on the Parcours numérique, a collaboration with Quartier des Spectacles and the Elektra festival showcasing works of digital art in various downtown locations, every evening until 2 a.m.

The festival’s visual component is emphasized at CineChamber, a 10-screen installation lab site, featuring five screenings and seven live performances at Excentris. And on Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Monument National, Mutek presents Histoire naturelle, its first programming for children, age 5 and up.

Another first is Mutek Lab, a three-day symposium organized with ICAS (International Cities of Advanced Sound and Related Arts) drawing representatives from more than 30 music festivals to the new PHI Centre in Old Montreal. This event is open to the public, with RSVPs on the Mutek website.

All these experiments are part of a master plan to revamp the festival for its 15th anniversary, according to Mongeau:

“This year and next year are about testing things out,” he said. “The core of the festival stays the same, but there are all kinds of things we’re trying out around that. Our goal is to come back for the 15th edition with conclusions from these experiments.”

Mutek’s 13th edition runs from Wednesday through Sunday at various locations. For more information, visit mutek.org.

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